Sakurajima evacuation advisory lifted

The Yomiuri ShimbunKAGOSHIMA — Kagoshima city authorities rescinded an evacuation advisory for the area around Sakurajima on Saturday, citing a lower risk of a major eruption.

The decision affects 77 people in 51 households inside a 3-kilometer radius of the 1,117-meter volcano.

A Level 4 warning has been issued for the volcano, instructing residents to prepare to evacuate.

The city’s decision came after the Japan Meteorological Agency’s Coordinating Committee for Prediction of Volcanic Eruptions concluded on Friday, “The possibility a large eruption will occur is decreasing.”

Of the three districts that had been subject to the advisory, 40 residents of 24 households in Arimuracho and Furusatocho districts are still being advised to be ready to evacuate quickly if necessary.

The city decided to rescind the advisory, which was issued Aug. 15, at a meeting of its disaster response headquarters on Saturday morning.

Buses were dispatched Saturday afternoon to two evacuation shelters on Sakurajima island to take residents home.

The JMA said it had observed three volcanic earthquakes as of noon Saturday.

The agency maintained its Level 4 eruption warning for the volcano, saying there remained a risk of large pieces of flying cinder and pyroclastic flows within about three kilometers of the